[Magdalen] The Deen controversy

[Scott Knitter]

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oddly enough, I never actually heard anyone say the F-word until I was 29, though I had seen it written on plenty of lavatory stall doors. Someone new to our therapy group said it, and I literally thought I was going to pass out or throw up. Such power we give words...

I've gone through phases (at university, with particular roommates and
friends) of using the F-word and similar items rather freely, but I
grew up in a profanity-free household. The worst I heard was when my
mother was nearly hit by another car while driving on an expressway,
and she honked her horn and the other driver showed her the middle
finger. She shouted, "Do it to yourself!" and then immediately
apologized and said she never wanted to hear us say anything like
that, or see us show the middle finger to anyone, for that matter.

I still don't like the way F and MF and other such terms have become
mere punctuation in ordinary public conversation. I understand the
"they're just words" argument I sometimes hear, but I wish for a more
civil environment: not Victorian nor phony-civil, but just
considerate. And saving the extreme words to express extreme emotions.

In blog-land, especially, f***ing has become an all-purpose
intensifier. I find this depressing. Not f***ing depressing, just
depressing.


-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA